The Concrete Underground

[ConCretin]

I'm sure you are all correct about the powers that be and my off-topic kitchen posts..... Maybe I just hoped I'd be known for my gleaming fab shop not my kitchen. I appreciate all the comments and will provide as much detail as I can. Someday when time and funds permit, I'll get the shop up to par too.

I believe that might be considered a woman's dream kitchen. What's the overall size of that kitchen ?

From the front of the pods back, it's about 35' x 11'. The L shaped island covers about 15' x 10'.

Are you posting a different thread on any other website?

Just here Tony. You guys keep me plenty entertained.

My experiences support your sound design principles. We also have an open space and designed in a "kitchen stadium" area, separate beverage area (outside of the stadium), and an extra sink to add a second work triangle. (IMO - this is absolutely necessary to make most kitchens productive when more than one person are in it.)

We haven't done much entertaining, but have had some success with the plan already - people naturally hang out surrounding the stadium but the inside remains clear so the hosts can continue working, gathering from the main refrigerator, etc. (In our application, we raised that part of the floor by one step which also further discourages people from stepping up and into the stadium.)

That's awesome! The terminology is different but the thought process is very similar. And here I am thinking I'm being clever. Guess I'm not the only one.

We haven't done a ton of entertaining but we have become everyone's preferred spot for family get togethers. We also managed to move a wedding inside when weather caused a last minute change of plans.

I'll try to get another update up later today

 

[gordyy]

As someone who cooks a lot and likes to cook
YOU don't have to be a woman to appreciate that kitchen awesome job as is the whole house.
glad to see your still plugging away!

 

[Finallygotit]

......You guys keep me plenty entertained.......

So what are you trying to say?

 

[-Brent-]

LL, I'm thrilled to see you back and posting. I learned a ton from this thread and, honestly, there was a big vacancy at the Garage Journal when you were away.

 

[ConCretin]

So with the cabinets installed and prepped, I ordered up the quartz countertops. As with everything, I was going for a simple and clean look. I used 2 cm square edge countertops by MSI in arctic white. Here the crew starts the installation in the U shaped island.



the install was pretty traditional. They came out and made templates and fabbed as much as they could in their shop.



After they had the counter down, they did the backsplash and a second round of templates for the bar counter.



A couple days later they came back and installed the upper bar surface. It makes for a very clean look on the inside



But is a little more dramatic from the outside;



They also took care of the other work areas. The baking center;



The clean up area;



The home office;



The beverage area;



And finally the buffet in the dining area;



Next up, backsplashes and the appliances go in. Not as many construction pics for the balance of the work so you'll be seeing mostly the finished product.

 

[shortykorte]

Awesome! Definitely shaping up to something spectacular and similar to what I'd design for myself possible. Great view out the windows from the u-shaped counter and the office is perfect.

 

[TurtleValley]

I can't see anything I would change in that kitchen. I love the "no backsplash" in the clean up area with windows run flush to the countertop. To bad our house design is frozen with windows on order or I would have done that for sure.

 

[wssix99]

That's awesome! The terminology is different but the thought process is very similar.

You left room for beer taps and the kegerator, right? (Or does that go in the garage in the cavity for the air lines?)

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Wow.

 

[ConCretin]

While I was collecting and organizing pics for my next kitchen update, I came across this little project and figured I'd divert a bit. When I first moved into the house, I stayed in the Guest Suite above the garage. I wanted to have easy access to my gas grill so I figured a little roof patio would be cool.

My rubber roof made this an easy proposition. Just had to remove the rock, which I saved for future landscaping projects.



I still had the forklift so I put it to work getting the pavers up yo the roof. They are nothing special. I picked them up at Lowes and picked a color I thought would look good with the stone.



I picked up some fabric from my roofing contractor that protects the rubber. You can see it in the lower left corner below. Then I just laid the pavers and I was done (except for needing two additional pavers since I apparently can't count)



The whole project took a few hours.



Since I have no less than three doors leading out onto roofs, this is probably the first of several roof top patios we'll put in.

 

[Stellaontap]

Wow....I love the kitchen...and the whole house!!! Rooftop patio is also cool

Eric

 

[Motown 454]

Nice job, it looks like a super clean design.

 

[HOTFR8]

Love the paving. As for counting we all make that mistake.

 

[dwysywd]

Roof top patio is killin it! Love the updates. So glad you're back.


Sent from my bag phone

 

[ford33]

The rooftop patio looks great and in the picture you can see the river in the background.

 

[signcrafter]

Amazing design skills Doug. I personally will read anything and everything you post about every room in that house. It's a garage forum but you are using "garage tools" and "garage skills" to build most of this beyond amazing house. I love how you share the little details of each part of the build. I know it must take you a lot of time to write your posts and add pics so please know that I and I'm sure others, appreciate the time you take to share this magnificent project of yours with all of us. I'm pretty sure I know what a drug addict goes through with withdrawls when you didn't post for a while. So, thanks for giving me my daily fix again!

Keep up the great work.

 

[ConCretin]

For those of you just joining us, you may have missed this;



Which lead to this;



And then there was;



And finally this;



There was quite a discussion on here about railings which included many great suggestions. My primary consideration was the the railings not distract from or hide the concrete steps, which lead me towards glass. I also wanted the railing to be clean and simple which lead me to use simple aluminum posts to support the glass. This is what I ended up with.



I hope those who suggested far more elaborate solutions are not disappointed.



I provided the design to the railing manufacturer who supplied the posts ready to accept glass. I simply tapcon'ed the posts down to the concrete and made masonite templates.



I actually used the template to set subsequent posts so one size glass would fit all the openings.



I sent the templates to a local glass company that provided 3/8" tempered glass for the std 1/2" for the landing at the top. The glass had small holes drilled at the anchor locations for a built in safety pin. The panels slipped right in and in a few hours I was done.

One more detail to share. Before we sheet rocked, I installed a few boxes under the stairs.



A few led step lights facing upward and we have this.



The lights are on a timer that comes on at dusk and since the stairs are very visible from the front door, it makes for a bit of drama.

 

[Stellaontap]

Awesome job on the floating stairs....they look great too.

 

[Brian R]

I’ve been waiting to see your solution to your floating stairs / handrail system.

Looks excellent and was worth the wait.

So glad you are back on GJ.

 

[Boosted1]

Those stairs are awesome. Nice work.

 

[kai1980]

the stairs look great.
nice job on the balustrade (railings) too, that's what i do for a living, always interesting to see different solutions to the same problems.
are you adding a handrail to it? here in Australia it's required as part of the building code (law), is it different there?

 

[gooned]

“I hope those who suggested far more elaborate solutions are disappointed.”

Nice, simple for the win! Up lights look great too

 

[ConCretin]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I would like to have done something a bit more creative but my imagination and wallet let me down.

are you adding a handrail to it? here in Australia it's required as part of the building code (law), is it different there?

I do have hand rails that will mount to the wall. I wanted to keep the balustrade (btw, thanks for the cool new word) as clean as possible

“I hope those who suggested far more elaborate solutions are disappointed.”

Oops. I meant to say that I hope they would not be disappointed.

 

[ford33]

The stairs look great.

How are they attached to the wall? It appears there is no vertical support from the ceiling or floor for the stair treads opposite the wall.

 

[Bogdan M.]

With a house like that, it seems you are aiming to conquer or destroy the world.
It's like something from a Bond movie.
Very cool!
The stairs look perfect!

 

[railroadjim]

The stairs turned out awesome!

Yea! We finally get to see how the stairs turned out. What a stunning effect, and the glass didn't take anything away from it.

And the underlighting at night... Wow! Terrific job. Thanks for coming back to share that with us.

 

[C_F]

The stairs look fantastic!! That's a really cool idea.
I assume they don't flex when you walk on them, since any flex would likely break the glass.

 

[gasgas17]

Beautiful stairs and rails. That and the stairs to the lake are my 2 favorite features of your build. Nice work!

 

[Motown 454]

Stairs look beautiful, I love the under lights.

 

[OHSCrifle]

Stair turned out great! Under-lighting is awesome.

 

[gte718p]

A few led step lights facing upward and we have this.



The lights are on a timer that comes on at dusk and since the stairs are very visible from the front door, it makes for a bit of drama.

Now that is a true custom statement piece. Your art continues to impress and inspire.

 

[jimmie jam]

Doug, how many years did you spend dreaming up this masterpiece? Your attention to every detail gives me a headache because I thought I was very good at the details. Now maybe not so much. Your home will last forever...I hope that you add a bronze plaque identifying yourself as "the artist". Beautiful details! My father would tell me as a kid, "quality doesn't cost more...it lasts longer".

 

[ConCretin]

Wow. Thanks for the comments guys. It's honestly a bit humbling coming from fine folks like you.

How are they attached to the wall? It appears there is no vertical support from the ceiling or floor for the stair treads opposite the wall.

If it's a bit confusing at first glance ford33, I guess I've accomplished one of my goals. There is a concrete wall behind the drywall that the treads are tied to with rebar. I often use the steps to demonstrate the properties of reinforced concrete. The rebar resists the tension at the top of the tread and the concrete resists the compression at the bottom. Two materials with complimentary strengths working together. You can imagine how much fun I am at parties.

With a house like that, it seems you are aiming to conquer or destroy the world.

No worries Bogdan, it will probably take me a while to get around to conquering Romania. I've got to overcome the volunteer fire department in my hometown first Thanks for kind words!

 

[gasgas17]

I would be correct to assume that the rebar for the floating stairs was tied into the wall before the wall was poured?

 

[ConCretin]

I would be correct to assume that the rebar for the floating stairs was tied into the wall before the wall was poured?

You would be correct if I had the foresight and skills to install the rebar at the time the wall was built,........which I didn't. The bars were drilled and epoxied at a later date. You can see the process on page 106 of the thread.

 

[Radix2]

Doug, how many years did you spend dreaming up this masterpiece? Your attention to every detail gives me a headache because I thought I was very good at the details. Now maybe not so much. Your home will last forever...I hope that you add a bronze plaque identifying yourself as "the artist". Beautiful details! My father would tell me as a kid, "quality doesn't cost more...it lasts longer".

Doug, I think this is a great question - your execution is magnificent, but for anyone doing this sort of project, that only happens after a massive planning and decision making process to figure out what the heck you are trying to accomplish.

On this project it is even moreso since concrete requires more up front planning of everything with rework much less forgiving than in a framed building. I have to guess that you used a commercial architect an had drawings done for all the trades that normally are not done on residential construction?...but still, it is a huge accomplishment to be able to know and communicate all the stuff required to get this together ( that kitchen pod set up..)

Anyway, some commentary on how you distilled it all down such that you could get to the point that contractors could make it happen would be great!

 

[BlueBomber]

I want to add to the chorus of folks welcoming you back, Doug. It had been so long, I had unsubscribed from the thread until today. I just happened to be browsing the Garage Gallery, saw an update for The Concrete Underground thread and was overjoyed to see it back in business. Like many others, I have oogled, learned from and been inpired by your work. Congrats on forward progress and I am among the throng who will be watching for more updates. Bravo!

 

[ConCretin]

Doug, I think this is a great question - your execution is magnificent, but for anyone doing this sort of project, that only happens after a massive planning and decision making process to figure out what the heck you are trying to accomplish.

On this project it is even moreso since concrete requires more up front planning of everything with rework much less forgiving than in a framed building. I have to guess that you used a commercial architect an had drawings done for all the trades that normally are not done on residential construction?...but still, it is a huge accomplishment to be able to know and communicate all the stuff required to get this together ( that kitchen pod set up..)

Anyway, some commentary on how you distilled it all down such that you could get to the point that contractors could make it happen would be great!

The biggest advantage I had by far is that I was my own GC and did much of the work myself. This allowed me to design as I went with no particular time frame. Much of what you see came to me on the fly.

It would have been incredibly difficult to create detailed plans that adequately communicated the intent to a Contractor and form the basis of a contract.

We did utilize an architect and structural engineer in the beginning of the process but we already had a pretty detailed program. I never did receive drawings that were adequate to bid or build by and we soon parted company.

Most of the details such as the kitchen layout/pods and the floating stairs were never shown on the plans. I have a stack of my sketches as long as your arm that represents the design development.

I have great respect for people who pull off complex projects in a traditional manner with a owner, designer and contractor. I was all there was and it was hard enough.

I hope that answers your question

 

[gasgas17]

You would be correct if I had the foresight and skills to install the rebar at the time the wall was built,........which I didn't. The bars were drilled and epoxied at a later date. You can see the process on page 106 of the thread.

Ha. Hindsight is 20/20, especially in construction!

That would have been pretty tricky to lay out and place the rebar before the wall was poured anyway. Is the rebar placed in the top 3rd or the tread where they meet the wall?

I have always wondered just how strong that epoxy was. I guess having 3-4 pieces of rebar per tread does reduce the load per hole. Do you know right off what the pulling force resistance is on the epoxy?

 

[Radix2]

The biggest advantage I had by far is that I was my own GC and did much of the work myself. This allowed me to design as I went with no particular time frame. Much of what you see came to me on the fly.

It would have been incredibly difficult to create detailed plans that adequately communicated the intent to a Contractor form the basis of a contract.

We did utilize an architect and structural engineer in the beginning of the process but we already had a pretty detailed program. I never did receive drawings that were adequate to bid or build by and we soon parted company.

Most of the details such as the kitchen layout/pods and the floating stairs were never shown on the plans. I have a stack of my sketches as long as your arm that represents the design development.

I have great respect for people who pull off complex projects in a traditional manner with a owner, designer and contractor. I was all there was and it was hard enough.

I hope that answers your question

Wow, that makes it even more impressive to me...and makes your execution time pretty darn good too.

With the internet it is easy to lose weeks researching products, finishes, options, the zillions of stuff that need to be ordered, supervising, crafting....

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